


It Should Have Been You

by Artemis_Egeria



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, POV Alternating, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 12:59:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16242128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Egeria/pseuds/Artemis_Egeria
Summary: Wanda and Vision attend a baseball game after the events ofCivil War. When Wanda walks away briefly, Vision gets an unpleasant surprise that leads to a promising revelation.Made (belatedly) for the Scarlet Vision Exchange 2018.





	It Should Have Been You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnontheNullifier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnontheNullifier/gifts).



> To Kat: Thank you so much for beta reading and providing invaluable comments and for everything else you did in organizing the exchange. I hope you enjoy this bit of fluff. 
> 
> Sorry for the delay in posting. I intended to post it sooner, but I got majorly blocked on it.

The baseball game reached a break in innings. Wanda leaned over to Vision and said, “I’m going to the restroom. I’ll be right back.” He nodded, smiling at her.

She walked down the steps to the concourse. She passed a concession stand and a gift shop, careful to keep her head down when she passed any cameras. As usual there was an impossibly long line for the women’s restroom. She walked a little farther and came to another where there were fewer people.

As Wanda was walking back toward their seats, she caught sight of the jumbotron. There was a giant heart on the screen, and the camera was panning the crowd, looking for a likely couple. She froze when she saw that it landed on Vision and the woman sitting next to him. Wanda hadn’t really noticed her when they sat down, but now that she saw the woman on a big screen, Wanda realized that she did look like a perfect match for Vision. She was tall, blonde, statuesque, and beautiful. Wanda imagined that she might run marathons, and her easy smile spoke of a carefree nature.

Vision, on the other hand, looked panicked when he saw himself on screen. He glanced around for Wanda, but he turned to the stranger when he saw that she was nowhere to be found. The chants of the crowd calling for them to kiss were growing louder and more insistent. The woman could clearly see Vision’s worry as well because she merely kissed him gently on the cheek and turned back to her friends. People in the crowd voiced their disappointment, but their grumbles faded as the camera moved on to its next victims.

Wanda finally worked her way back to her seat. Vision turned to her. He was smiling, but she could see the residue of his earlier fear. The rest of the game passed uneventfully; she pulled him from his seat shortly before it ended to beat the crowds.

Once they reached the outside of the stadium, they hailed a cab. It took them to a corner of the city near where she was meeting the others. Steve was nervous enough about being back in New York less than a year after going on the run, but he was convinced that this mission was absolutely crucial. Though Steve also insisted that he and Natasha had to do it alone, over Sam and Wanda’s protests. They were pulling out within a few more hours, so Wanda decided to take advantage of what little time she had. When she had let Vision know that she would be in the area, he readily agreed to meet her and suggested the game.

As she waited for the order to meet, Wanda pulled Vision into a pizza shop. Keeping hold of his hand, Wanda determined that she would not dwell on her unfounded feelings of jealousy over someone else kissing Vision’s cheek. He deserved to have that. She wanted him to have that. Besides, her rare alone time with Vision was not something she was willing to sacrifice to negativity.

She chewed her pizza slowly, but it had lost its flavor. Outside, people streamed past the shop. Couples were holding hands, and parents were dragging small children along or running after them. Other people were looking down at their phones or listening to music, strolling along with the appearance of having all the time in the world. Wanda wondered if she would ever have the chance to walk through a crowd so carefree again.

When she finished eating, they walked out and headed toward a nearby park to have a little space to themselves. The park was mercifully empty on this early spring day. It felt like a reprieve to be out in nature, wandering aimlessly through the greenery. Wanda still kept her cap pulled low on her forehead. Forcing herself to maintain a light tone, she asked Vision, “So, what did you think of your first baseball game?”

“Truthfully, aside from analyzing the physics and trigonometry necessary to determine the proper angles for throwing and hitting the baseball to obtain the desired results, I found it quite boring.” She noted the frown furrowing the designs laid into his brows.  Wanda could feel the shame emanating from him. She did not think that she had ever heard him admit disliking something so candidly. It was heart-warming that Vision was growing comfortable enough with his preferences, or with her, to be honest.

She laughed. “That’s fair. It’s mostly just guys standing around.”

He nodded slightly. “Although I did enjoy spending the day with you.”

“Me too, Vizh.” At the sound of her quiet agreement, his smile grew wider. Unwilling as Wanda was to bring up the subject, an irresistible curiosity overtook her. “And what did you think of your first kiss?” She grinned up at him. “That is, I’m assuming it was your first kiss.” She continued walking down the path, knowing that he would follow her.

***

Vision had the odd sensation of his synthetic stomach flipping over as he hurried after her. The mood had changed since Wanda had returned toward the end of the game. Wanda was still acting amiably enough, but he had grown sufficiently accustomed to human interactions, and to her reactions specifically, to recognize a shift. He could not properly decipher what the change was, but it felt like a blanket of unease had fallen over their earlier cheerfulness.

Perhaps her observation was the source of the shift. “You saw that?” She nodded, just a tad guiltily. “It was my first kiss.” Vision pursed his lips at that new thought. He had never imagined that he would have a first kiss, nonetheless with a stranger. “I was not in favor of it. The woman sitting next to us seemed perfectly nice, but I had no desire to be that intimate with a complete stranger. Moreover, it seems inherently wrong to do so for the sake of appeasing a crowd.” He fancied that he could still feel the kiss on his skin, slightly clammy and cooler than his usual temperature. His flinch must have been visible to the woman because she had merely given him an apologetic smile and turned away.  

They came across a bench, and Wanda pulled him down to sit on it. Her smile fell as she considered their joined hands, and her eyes turned sad. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. When Vision considered the magnitude of human suffering in the world, he could not weigh the opportunity to choose his first kiss as significant. “It is a small loss, all things considered.”

“You’re still allowed to be upset about it.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. The camera operators probably would have thought we were together.”

“Would you have wanted them to think that?” Interested as he was to hear her answer, he knew it was ultimately good that she had chosen that time to walk away. It would not do to have Wanda’s image projected across the whole stadium. It was too dangerous to come here as it was; he would never forgive himself if she were discovered because of where they chose to meet.

It was her turn to shrug. “I wouldn’t have minded. Would it have bothered you less if it were me?”

“Significantly less,” though privately he felt that his level of panic would likely have been the same, though tinged with excitement instead of worry. “But I would never want you to kiss me out of a sense of obligation.” Her smile, which Vision assumed was meant to be reassuring, took on an out-of-place note of amusement. It unsettled him just as it intrigued him.

He was disturbed by his now unusual failure to read her intentions, and he wanted only to understand her. His judgment was only hampered by the remnants of his alarm at being projected on a screen in front of the whole stadium. The predicament was wholly unexpected. Vision’s only relief arose from the fact that only Wanda knew of his human disguise.

His usual calm was impossible to maintain when he thought back to that moment, the remembered panic clouding his mind. Moreover, Vision still felt a lingering shame at his admission that he did not enjoy the game. All aspects of humanity were fascinating. If anything, watching the crowd at the game should have been fascinating, from the various attire worn to the way the group’s excitement built on itself to lead to new collective behavior. Though something was still lacking. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts as he had seen his teammates do, although he recognized that it was a fairly illogical gesture.

Vision wished to think ahead and not dwell on this confusing, though enjoyable day. “Do you know when I may be able to visit you next?”

Wanda didn’t answer immediately, instead she looked away. “I think we should stop meeting.”

“Why should we not meet any longer?” His thoughts froze. He did not understand Wanda’s sudden rethinking of their rendezvous. Despite the slight pall over the afternoon, she had given no indication that she had grown tired of seeing him. She had said that she enjoyed spending time with him.

“You’re risking a lot by meeting up with me, Vision. If the UN ever found out, you’d be arrested for violating the Accords.”

“We have been careful, Wanda.” Vision thought of all the effort and secrecy put into his human disguise, the occasional security camera scrubbed, and their scrupulous attention to secure methods of communication.

“Maybe, but it’s still risky. Even more than that, I want you to have a chance at a normal life. With this disguise, you could learn more about humanity close up. You could go on a date, travel, make new friends outside the Avengers.”

“Exploring humanity is what I have been doing with you, Wanda. I cannot thank you enough for your help in teaching me.” Vision continued, willing her to understand, “There is also the fact that none of these people would be likely to accept me in my natural state. You are the only person who has fully accepted me as I am.”

Tears were welling up in Wanda’s eyes, but her smile was genuine. “You’re the best student, Vizh. It’s been my pleasure to help you.” She looked down at the ground. “But meeting up in secret, hiding, not even being able to talk on the phone most times is not normal.” She stood abruptly and pulled her hand from his. His body mirrored hers, although he was unaware of having made the decision to stand. “I’m sorry our meeting had to end this way, but I think it’s for the best. I have to head toward the rendezvous point.” She began to walk away. He had to stop her; they couldn’t leave their interaction like this.

“Wait, Wanda.” She turned to him. Her mouth was still set in a thin line. Her posture was defensive, hunched in on itself. “Are you upset with me?” He approached her slowly, uncertain what to do with his hands. Vision’s hands almost reached out to her of their own accord, but he put them in his pockets instead.

Wanda shook her head. “Not at all, Vizh.”

“Forgive me, but it seems that you are.” She did not typically shy away from expressing disagreement with him, but it was also seldom that he displeased her.

“I’m not upset with you; I’m just worried about us.” Moving a few steps away from him, Wanda folded her arms across herself, still half turned away from him.

Vision regarded her intently. She was more closed off, both mentally and physically, than he had sensed since the days immediately after Novi Grad and Lagos. “You have listed some of your particular concerns, but I do not understand. I do not share them, and you have not mentioned any concerns that you have for yourself.”

“I don’t have any for myself.” Wanda’s denial was forceful and immediate.

Her reply answered every doubt in Vision’s mind. “Then there is no reason to discontinue our meetings.”

She looked like she was prepared to offer more arguments, but the fight left her in a rush of breath. “Are you sure?”

“Most definitely.” Vision spoke not only out loud, but also in her mind. He did not take the restoration of their mental link, just re-established during the course of this visit for the first time since she left the compound with Clint, for granted.

Her grin returned full force, and he was astonished at the strength of it. “Oh, and Vizh?” He nodded for her to continue. “If I had kissed you for the camera back there, trust me, it wouldn’t have been because I felt I had to.” His words and logic and fine motor skills deserted him, leaving him mute and gaping slightly. The alarm on Wanda’s phone suddenly beeped insistently. She removed it from her pocket, glancing down at it worriedly. “I’m sorry. I’m not ready to leave yet, but I really do have to go now.”

He responded automatically, “Of course.” But Vision followed his earlier desire to take her hand. Her smile turned tentative at the edges. “Just one more moment, please.” She looked at him expectantly. He had not planned what he would do or say next, wanting anything to prolong their visit. The answer came to him from the depths of his unexamined wishes.

Vision’s other functions gradually returned to him. He leaned down and hesitantly touched his lips to hers. Wanda’s smile as he pulled away stemmed the tide of apologies that threatened to spill from his lips. “You are the only person I am interested in kissing.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time, Vizh.” She raised herself up to kiss his cheek, in the same spot that the stranger had. “I promise we’ll talk soon. Bye for now.”

“Goodbye, Wanda. Take care.” She threw one last smile and wave over her shoulder at him as she hurried away. He watched her leave, a bittersweet smile pulling up the corners of his mouth.


End file.
